Steroids in Athletics

Belarusian shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk has accused a former coach of “framing” her for a positive steroid test at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Ostapchuk won the gold medal in the women’s shot put but her victory was short-lived after she tested positive for metenolone. Metenolone or methenolone is more commonly known as Primobolan or Primobolan Depot by athletes and bodybuilders. [Read more…]

Belarusian shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk was stripped of her gold medal for winning the women’s shot put at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The results of anti-doping tests containing the steroid positive arrived shortly after the two-week Olympic games concluded. Ostapchuk was the first Olympic medalist to test positive for a banned performance-enhancing drug (PED). [Read more…]

Malcolm Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point and Outliers, provided an uncharacteristically disappointing discussion of anabolic steroids in sports with Nicholas Thompson for the New Yorker Magazine. Gladwell and Thompson chatted about various sports issues during the 2012 London Olympics. Both Gladwell and Thompson suggested that doping was not an issue for endurance sports and that steroid use was likely limited to shorter sprint events. [Read more…]

Carl Lewis, the former 100-meter champion and multiple Olympic gold medalist, expressed his skepticism about the performances of Usain Bolt four years ago at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He made thinly veiled accusations that Bolt was doping with steroids or some other performance-enhancing drug (PED) in an interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph. Lewis told the newspaper that only “fools” wouldn’t suspect Bolt of using steroids. [Read more…]

American sprinter Debbie Dunn tested positive for anabolic steroids during an anti-doping test administered at the United States Olympic Trials in Eugene (Oregon) on June 24, 2012. Dunn recorded an elevated testosterone:epitestosterone ratio (T:E ratio) that exceeded the 4:1 ratio allowed under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code. An elevated T:E ratio is a putative indicator of exogenous testosterone use. [Read more…]

The collaboration between Olympic sprinter David Jenkins and the infamous steroid guru Dan Duchaine to create a multi-million underground steroid laboratory (UGL) in the 1980s was recently highlighted in a book excerpt published by the Scotsman.com. Richard Moore, the author of the “The Dirtiest Race in History: Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and the Seoul Olympic 100m Final,” interviewed Jenkins and asked him about his steroid past. [Read more…]

Sprinter Dwain Chambers, who served a two year suspension after testing positive for anabolic steroids in 2003, has been named to the Team GB as a representative of Great Britain in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London next month. While Chambers is thrilled to represent his country in the Olympics, the British Olympic Association (BOA) and former British Olympians likely would rather not see him there. [Read more…]

Disgraced Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson believed that using anabolic steroids as an elite Olympic sprinter was “the right thing to do”. Johnson made the comments during an interview with journalist and author Richard Moore. Moore’s book, “The Dirtiest Race in History: Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and the Seoul Olympic 100m final” was released on June 7, 2012. [Read more…]

The Court of Arbitration for Sport affirmed the Lithuanian Athletics Federation decision to suspend marathon runner Živilė Balčiūnaitė after she tested positive for the use of anabolic steroids. Balčiūnaitė tested positive for the anabolic steroid testosterone at the 2010 European Athletics Championship in Barcelona in July 2010. [Read more…]

The Spanish courts continue to thwart anti-doping officials with their latest ruling on a major anti-doping investigation. The Audiencia Provincial de Madrid ruled that evidence seized in the Operación Galgo case was obtained illegally. Consequently, the anabolic steroids, stored blood and medical equipment used for transfusions seized by steroid investigators could not be used to prosecute any of the defendants on doping charges. [Read more…]